Wisps of glory...

"Everybody born comes from the creator trailing wisps of glory..." says Maya Angelou in a great interview on NPR. Angelou is an extraordinary human being and an inspiration to many. Besides authoring I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou is also a poet, playwright, dancer, singer, and much more. At the end of the interview Angelou says about being Christian, "I am relieved to have a faith that there is no place where God is not." Well said! The interview is about 12 mintues long and well worth your time. Enjoy!

Happy Easter to you all! The photo on the right of a beautiful Calla Lily was taken by blog subscriber, "Minstral," in celebration of our Easter feast. Thank you, Minstral!

In other news...It has been about 6 weeks since we have had regular postings on the blog, however, I hope to post more regular now that we are well into the Easter season. Stay tuned! And feel free to comment on the blog or send me items you would like to see posted.

What is the greatest virtue?

Dr. Jarvis Streeter gave another great lecture last night on Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians. We read the whole book together, line by line, looking at Paul's theology and ethics as well as the primary themes in the letter. One thing that I found particularly noteworthy was Dr. Streeter's assertion that love is the primary Christian virtue. In 1st Thessalonians 1.3, Paul speaks of faith, hope, and love, but those of you who have been to a handful of weddings will probably also recall the following from Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth, "And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13.13) Love as the primary Christian virtue certainly does have implications as to how we practice our faith and who we are in the world. It brings up many questions for me. What does it mean to practice love? How do we bring the gift of God's love to the world?

Homework for this week is to read 2 Thessalonians and Galatians. As was the case last week, Dr. Streeter would like us to pay attention to the theology and ethics of the letter. What is Paul telling the church to think (theology)? What kind of behavior is Paul encouraging (ethics)?

And, finally, just for review, Paul's letters all have a particular structure common to the genre of letter writing in the 1st century. Below is a basic outline of the structure of Paul's letters. Hopefully it will be a useful guide to you as you read and try to understand what Paul has to say about our faith.

Basic Structure of a Pauline Letter
1. Greeting (usually brief. A sentence or two though sometimes the sentences are quite long!)
2. Thanksgiving (about a paragraph or so in length. It varies from letter to letter and 1 Thessalonians has a very long Thanksgiving!)
3. Body of the Letter
a. Theology - what they should think
b. Ethics - how they should behave.
4. Conclusion (often including housekeeping matters, hellos to individuals, and sometimes a reiteration of the main themes of the letter)

Do your homework!

Homework, you say? Do I hear a groan? A gasp? Yes, we have some homework to do.

This past Wednesday, Dr. Jarvis Streeter, Professor of Religion at Cal Lutheran, began his Lenten lecture series at Epiphany on St. Paul (St. Paul is the author of much of our New Testament Letters that we hear every Sunday in the second reading right after the Psalm). Dr. Streeter is a great teacher! He is fun to listen to, relaxed, and has a way of presenting information that is engaging and interesting. On Wednesday, he gave us a lot of background information about Paul such as where he lived, where he traveled, the dates of his travels, and a bit about his writing. And, to get us ready for next week's lecture, Dr. Streeter asked us to read 1st Thessalonians, 2nd Thessalonians and Galatians. As we read, we should pay attention to tone, content, and style, as well as paying attention to differences between the letters. We can find clues in the text pointing to the likelihood that Paul is not the author of 2nd Thessalonians even though it is attributed to him!

Click here for some basic facts on St. Paul if you missed last Wednesday's lecture (or even if you didn't). Also, this website will keep you busy with its many links to all kinds of information and articles on St. Paul and his writings. My personal favorite is this website with maps of Paul's journeys and photos of the cities where he worked. Hope to see you all this coming Wednesday!

It's a dirty job...

...but someone's gotta do it!


Each year on the last Sunday of the Epiphany season, we sing as many Alleluias as we can possibly stand. Once Ash Wednesday comes around, the Alleluias are buried until Easter, right there, in that little hole in the ground that our Vicar, Hank Mitchel, has just dug and is pointing to. Well done, Hank!


Ok, really, when I say buried, I mean that only metaphorically. Hank didn't really bury the Alleluia but we do retire the Alleluia in word and song in favor of a more austere and self-reflective worship experience during the season of Lent.


However, there are some churches who really do bury the Alleluia. Inscribing the word Alleluia on to paper or some other natural material, the Alleluia is placed in a box and buried in the ground to signify the beginning of the penitential season of Lent. Some churches even dig up the Alleluia as part of the Easter celebration. Click here to read more on this and various different burial practices for the Alleluias we sing. And, for more information about Lent in click here.


Another important tradition for the Lenten season is taking on a new spiritual practice. I have included in various postings different websites for prayer and study and it is my hope that you might find one of these websites helpful for your daily practice of prayer. Below is a list of some of them for your convenience.


EPPN's Lenten series, For the Beauty of the Earth
I believe you can subscribe to this series and receive reflections, information and prayers during the Lenten season. I just signed up so we will see what happens.

Pray as you go
This is a great website for people on the go, and for stationary people too!

Sacred Space
This website has daily prayers year round AND special prayers for the Lenten season.

Episcopal Life Online
Several resources from the national church. You can browse here to your heart's content.

Forward Day by Day
These are meditations based on the Daily Office readings.

Oremus
Last but not least, Oremus is a wonderful resource for prayer year round! And, like many of the sites above, you can subscribe and have the daily prayer sent to you each and every day.

Just in time for Super Tuesday...

A different side of faith and politics! This time it's a profile of the democratic candidates in Super Tuesday's election. Click here to go to NPR's piece on Obama and Clinton in the Land of Lincoln. A fascinating article with plenty of links to click and explore! And, even though the Episcopal Church won't tell you who to vote for, we do encourage you to pray for the election, for the voters, and for the candidates. Below is a prayer for an election from the Book of Common Prayer (BCP). You may also click here to see all the prayers for national life in the BCP.

Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers and privileges: Guide the people of the United States in the election of officials and representatives; that, by faithful administration and wise laws, the rights of all may be protected and our nation be enabled to fulfill your purposes; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The end of the rainbow...

I will spare you all the cheesy references to pots 'o gold and leprechauns, but I can't resist connecting our legends about the ends of rainbows with where this rainbow ends. Our church, represented by the building, is a great symbol of what we value in our lives. The Bible refers many times to God's law and God's wisdom as more valuable than gold, like in this passage from Job, "It cannot be gotten for gold, and silver cannot be weighed out as its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; the price of wisdom is above pearls." The church, the body of Christ is who we are, and we come together as a community of faith not to seek material wealth or gain, but to inherit the wealth of a life lived seeking after God's wisdom. This is where life is found, at the end of the rainbow.

I can see clearly now...

After a good rain, blue skies, white clouds and the possibility of a rainbow makes me feel hopeful. Something new is on the wind. I took this picture yesterday afternoon at 4:15 p.m. What a beautiful sky after so many days of darkness, clouds and rain.

We are in an election year this year. It is on everyone's minds, of course. Something new is on the wind. One of Epiphany's newer members asked if the Episcopal Church sponsors or supports one particular candidate OR if there is a candidate that particularly embodies the values of the Episcopal Church. Two great questions! The answer to both questions is NO. The Episcopal Church does not endorse a candidate nor is there a candidate that embodies the values of the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church thrives on its diversity which includes political diversity as well.

However, that being said, there is plenty of religious rhetoric being tossed around in this election year and, in the interest of us all seeing clearly as Super Tuesday approaches, I thought I would send you to a couple of websites that address this issue of religion, politics, and the election. The first is The Revealer: A Daily Review of Religion and the Press. There is a great article called Holy Iowa that I referenced in a sermon not too long ago. This website is new to me but it seems worth exploring.

And, hot off the presses of Religion and Ethics Weekly is this article/video on Religion and the Presidential Primaries. If you go to the home page of Religion and Ethics Weekly there are other resources there as well.

What in the world....

...is the Episcopal Church doing about the climate crisis, asked one of Epiphany's newer members. Participants in The Way of Jesus, a class for those newest to the church as well as those interested jumpstarting their faith, were asked to write down the questions they had about Epiphany, about the Episcopal Church, about religion in general, and about anything in the world that was on their mind! Over the next week or so, we will post responses to those questions, beginning with the question of what the Episcopal Church is doing about climate change.

Where to begin with the question of climate change? The Episcopal Church is responding in numerous ways to the climate crisis on local, diocesan, national and international levels. There is so much out there on the World Wide Web that shows what we are doing to make a difference, and yet there is still so much more we can still do! Below are a series of links for your exploration of the Episcopal Church's response. These are only a few. I encourage you to explore and let me know if you find anything that we should publish on the Epicenter and spread the word about. And now, on with the show...

Click here for information on what the Anglican Communion is doing in terms of environmental ministry and mission.

The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Los Angeles have both chosen the U.N. Millennium Development Goals as a focus for mission, including the goal of environmental sustainability.

The Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN)
This group is not limited only to environmental advocacy but spans the breadth and depth of issues we face.

EPPN's Lenten series, For the Beauty of the Earth
I believe you can subscribe to this series and receive reflections, information and prayers during the Lenten season. I just signed up so we will see what happens.

Environmental Stewardship
Also on the national level, this is a focus area of the Peace and Justice Ministries office. This site has numerous articles and resources. Lots to browse here!

Our diocese, The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, has a Minister for the Environment who wrote this article on the spiritual implications of global warming.

The LA diocese also sponsors Camp Stevens, an Episcopal Church camp that operates year round teaching children and adults about the importance of continuing to work toward environmental sustainability as an important part of the practice of our faith.